Glen Cove City Council Members said they would consider revising a recently approved noise ordinance that bars the use of gasoline-powered tools on Sundays after a resident raised concerns about what he said appeared to be religious bias in the legislation at the Tuesday, May 27, meeting.
Resident Harris Pepper said the law allows for less work on the Christian Sabbath than it does on the Jewish Sabbath. While both days are considered to be “holy days,” he said. “Christian residents are granted more time to work on the weekends than their Jewish neighbors.”
“I’m bringing to your attention what was perceived as inequitable or unjust bias,” Pepper said.
The law, amended by the council on Tuesday, May 13, revised when residents are permitted to use gasoline-fueled or power tools, including, but not limited to, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, saws and woodchippers.
According to that law, tools would be permitted on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., on Saturdays between 9 a.m. or 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and on Sundays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“What this council has shown can be unknowingly interpreted as prejudice toward the Jewish community,” Pepper said.
Glen Cove Mayor Pam Panzenbeck responded, “That was never the intention.”
Pepper said that while the council may not have intended for bias in the law to exist, it was how it was perceived. He said he will accommodate the noise ordinance, but wants the law to be equal for both religious observances.
“All I’m asking from the city council is: what you do for one, you do for the other,” he said.
Pepper said failure to amend the noise ordinance will “result in additional measures being taken.” He reminded council members that it is an “election year” and that they were “elected to office to represent all of the people equally and justly in Glen Cove.”
Council Member Marsha Silverman said she had brought this issue up twice in pre-council meetings. Panzenbeck noted that she brought it up once prior to the vote and once after the vote, when the law had already been passed.
“I brought it up before it was voted on, and then after it was voted on, that it was unequal,” Silverman said.
Council Member Kevin Maccarone agreed with Pepper’s point. He said that while making the law, the council was attempting to consider resident feedback, which had expressed concerns over working on Sundays.
“It was brought to our attention that a lot of people were complaining about the fact that people were allowed to operate at all on Sundays,” he said.
“It should be the same for both,” Maccarone said.
Panzenbeck said that it was unintentional and that the council will discuss it further.
